One Foggy Summerween
by Battleangel911
Summary: It's once again Summerween and the town is decorated with scary delight. This year the twins are invited to a party, but scary fun, becomes very terrifying when monsters roam the town and they aren't people in costume. (There will be some mature content, language, and grotesque visuals).
1. Prologue: We Need Costumes!

One Foggy Summerween

 **A/N: Hello, the Halloween season inspired me to write this story. Hope you enjoy it!**

Prologue: We Need Costumes!

Mabel Pines just finished sewing the last stitches of her costume. Her lips curved into a smile as she looked over the colorful design. The woven fabric formed every type of hard candy one could think of, from suckers to gummy candy.

"Dipper! It's ready!" she called.

The thirteen-year-old boy rushed into their room. His sister held up the collage of colors.

"Here you go?"

Dipper eyes sprang wide open and his mouth fell into a frown. "Uh, I'm wearing that?"

"Yeah!"

"I'm not wearing that," he said.

Now Mabel joined him with a frown. "But the candy thing was your idea," she reminded him. Mabel was so excited for this year's Summerween. She and Dipper were first introduced to the holiday the previous year when they first came to Gravity Falls. There was a Christmas in July so why not a Halloween in June?

"I'm dressing up as the chocolate bar. I thought you we're going to be the hard candy," Dipper tried to help her recall the original plan.

"Oh." Mabel walked over to the long, freestanding mirror across the room and held up the costume to her body. "I guess this would mesh with me better." She turned to her twin. "But I made it with your measurements."

"Try it on to see if it fits," Dipper suggested. Mabel threw it over her clothes. She forgot to account for the fact that she would be wearing it over clothing and she had grown a bit from last summer. "See, it fits you great!" her brother complimented.

Mabel turned towards him and replied, "Okay. I'll wear this one. Now I need to start on your costume. Are you going to be a plain chocolate bar or a nutty chocolate bar?"

"No nuts. You're nuts enough for the both of us."

The two laughed as Mabel took off the costume. She grabbed the measuring tape, putting it around her brother's waist.

While the twins worked on Dipper's costume, the elder Pines twins were rummaging through the hallway closet. Stan grabbed parts from costumes he'd used in previous years. Everything was stored in a boxes and it wasn't very organized.

"This is going to be the best Summerween ever!" he exclaimed as he hand various costume parts to Ford. "It'll be just like when we were kids! Remember when we dressed up as mutants or aliens? Or mutant aliens?" he went on.

Ford nodded and laughed. "I actually do. But, aren't we too old for this, now?" Stan froze for a moment with raised gray eyebrows.

"Too old? You're actually saying that after everything that's happened? Both of us should be dead by now, but we're not! So, I'm living it up until I am! Here, take this scary wolf mask." Ford took it while rolling his eyes.

"Okay, so what are we doing exactly?"

"It's great! Every year I dress up in a scary costume and I have a bunch of trick planted up my sleeve, as well as every other part of my body. When the kids come get candy, I scare the crap out of them!"

"That doesn't sound very nice."

"It's not about being nice! It's Gravity Falls' second Halloween, and the people here go nuts over it. It's a time to scare a bunch of costume clad children who come to your house begging for candy." Stan threw his arm around his brother.

"And this year, I get to spend it with _my brother_ , a man I have come to have a great deal of respect for, especially after a year with him on a small boat in the Artic." A tear fell from his eye that he quickly wiped away. The biggest smile graced Ford's mouth.

As Stan pulled more items out of the closet, Soos trotted down the hallway wearing his usual happy grin on his face. He stopped and acknowledged the two brothers.

"Hello, Mr. Pines and Dr. Pines,"

Ford shook his head. "I've told you before, Soos, you don't need to address me so formally."

"Uh, I didn't think I was supposed to dress you at all, sir."

The elderly scientist couldn't help but chuckle. "Soos, you are an original."

"An original what?"

Ford continued laughing. "Alright, that's enough of that." He now held a fury wolf costume and full-headed wolf mask in his hands. "This will be interesting." He turned to Stan. "Do I really have to wear this?"

"No. You could wear the wolf boy costume I put Dipper in for one of my attractions last year."

"Wolf boy? What would I have to wear?"

"Wolf ears, nose and tights."

"You made Dipper wear that? Wasn't he embarrassed?"

"Hey! I had to toughen that boy up when he first got here," Stan insisted.

"Well, there's no way in hell I'm wearing that," Ford returned bluntly.

Stan returned a wide grin. "So it's settled. You'll wear that wolf costume," he pointed at the gray fury ensemble.

Ford let out a hard sigh. "Fine."

Dipper came down the stairs, as there was a knock at the door. He kept a casually stride as he continued over to answer it. Wendy stood on the other side with a cool smile, holding out a flyer.

"Hey!" the teenage boy greeted. His eyes fell to the piece of paper with a black shadow forming a skeleton and dripping blood red letters reading, 'Wendy's Summerween Bash.'

"It's that time of year!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, you're throwing another party?" he asked.

"Yeah, but this year it's at this barn. We're doing a haunted hayride too."

Dipper raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Isn't that kind of—I don't know—kiddish?"

"Not the way we do it!" she replied with great enthusiasm. "It's going to be much better than last year! And I want both you and Mabel to come."

Dipper's mouth opened in a wide, excited smile, but then it dropped. "Uh, I don't know if Mabel will go for it. She wants us to go trick or treating again."

"You can do both dude. The party doesn't start until nine-thirty. Go trick or treating or whatever, then come party with us."

Dipper nodded. "Okay."


	2. Part I: Tricks for Treats

Part I: Tricks for Treats

The buzz of the sewing machine filled the room as Mabel diligently worked on her brother's costume. Dipper waltzed into the room and stood in front of the machine, waiting for his sister to acknowledge his presence.

"Hey, Mabel," he held out Wendy's flyer. The buzzing stopped and she looked up to see the colorful picture.

"Hey bro. Almost done." Her head cocked to the side. "What's that?"

"Well, I wondered if this year, we could change things up a bit? How about after we do the trick or treating thing, we go to a party?"

Mabel stared at him for the longest time. Dipper returned a wide grin, his eyes nervously twitched.

"Oh, that's Wendy's party, right?" she asked.

"H-how did you know?"

"She already told me about it yesterday. Yeah, it's fine." Mabel received squinting eyes from her brother. "Really, it's fine," she tried to convince him.

"Okay. Great!" he happily replied.

More buzzing erupted from the sewing machine.

"I'll be downstairs," he said.

"Okay," Mabel responded.

Down the winding wooden steps and into the hallway, Dipper made a right turn into the TV room. He adjusted the lumberjack hat as he often did after a certain amount of movement. He continued into the room and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a tall wolf monster sitting at the table. It stayed perfectly still.

"Oh, it's just a decoration," he said, feeling silly that he was intimidated by it. Dipper walked casually towards the table. Just as he reached the table, the giant wolf jumped out at him, growling ferociously. The teenage boy jumped back with a horrified cry. He crawled backwards with wide eyes, grabbing a golf club next to the yellow chair. Springing to his feet, he raised the weapon, ready to swing.

"Whoa! Wait!" a human voice came from the creature. Dipper stared wide-eyed as his great uncle removed the mask.

"Ford? What? Oh man, you got me! I'm surprised. Usually this is something Stan does."

"Um yeah. I'm trying to get into this holiday." He sat down on the wicker chair beside the table. "I haven't celebrated any holidays since—" his voice faltered. "—Stan and I were your age. We actually celebrated our birthdays while in the Artic this past year. It felt so weird—"

"You're feeling how I did last year. I felt I was getting too old for trick-or-treating and it hurt Mabel when I told her. But then, I just went along with the flow and I found my love for the holiday again."

"Really? Just like that?" his great uncle asked.

"Well, there was this whole incident with this shadow creature called the Summerween Trickster. I kind of insulted him and then we had to get five-hundred pieces of candy—"

Ford stared thoughtfully at Dipper, causing him to trail off. "It was an interesting night."

Suddenly, Stan stuck his head into the TV room.

"There you are! Get over here Sixer, we gotta go over the plan for tomorrow night."

Ford let out a groan. "Go with the flow, huh?" he asked. Dipper smiled. Ford made his way towards his grinning twin who followed up with, "I've got really special tricks up my sleeves this year!"

The next evening, the teenage twins stood in front of their mirror with full costumes, Dipper as the chocolate bar and Mabel as a wide spread of colorful candies. They descended the stairs just as a knock came from the front door. Both teens froze. A quick memory from the previous year flashed in Dipper's mind. He remembered opening the door to see a tall shadowy figure...

Another knock.

"Are you going to get that, bro?" Mabel asked. Dipper edged his way over to the door as a second knocked pounded from the other side.

Slowly, the thirteen year old opened the door.

"Oh, it's you guys." Candy stood in torn clothing with fake blood all over her and Grenda sported her cheerleader costume. Interesting choices fro the both of them.

"Hi!" Candy beamed.

"Let's get that candy!" Grenda bellowed.

"You guys already got me," Candy joked.

Mabel waved her hand. "You guys!"

"I'm glad to see you in a real costume this year, Dipper," Candy said.

"Well, you know, it is free candy," he replied.

Everyone laughed as they walked out into the cool night air.

Stan led Ford over to the door, a bucket of candy in his hand.

"Okay, so if they're brave enough to stay after the trick, they get the treat," he said, shaking the bucket.

"Do these kids really get scared from silly parlor tricks?"

"The young ones do."

"Young ones? How young? I don't want to be mean to kids, Stanley."

Stan rolled his eyes. "Oh come on! They're the ones parading up to the house of strangers asking for sugary treats. That's gutsy enough! But, they gotta have real guts to get this candy."

Many voices of children sounded from the other side of the door.

"We got some live ones! Put on that wolf mask! Stay out of sight until I signal you."

Ford did so as Stan put in his vampire teeth. He pulled open the door and grimaced at the young group of juveniles.

"Ooh lookie here. Do ya kiddies want some candy?" he asked in a sinister tone.

The children nodded and giggled. "Yeah!" they screamed.

"Okay, just don't let my dog know I'm giving this to you. He can get kind of jealous." Stan did a quick twist of head, which was a signal to Ford. Suddenly his twin jumped out with a loud growl. The three youngest kids cried out and ran away. Two were left. In fact, they looked kind of familiar to Stan.

"Uh-oh! You better run! My 'dog' might bite off a limb or two."

"If he does, we'll just get our dads who happen to be lawyers," one boy in a pirate costume said.

"You've got lawyers in you family?" Stan asked with a tinge of concern. Then, he returned a twisted smile. "Oh I see. Trying to scare me, huh? Sorry, you can't scare someone who has all the powers of the undead," he lifted his arms as a bunch of bats flew out of his sleeves. The boys ducked as the paper decorations fell onto the porch.

"That was lame," said the other boy dressed as a Viking.

Ford shook his head. "Just give them the candy," he told his brother.

"Wait! Wait! I got something—caught in my throat!" He began coughing violently. What appeared to be internal fluids and bile regurgitated from his mouth. It landed on the porch inches from the boys' feet. Stan fell to his knees hacking and coughing. It was pretty convincing, so much that Ford almost bent down to attend to him. But maybe that would make the trick more convincing it he did that. Suddenly, Stan stopped the act and looked up at the boys.

"Oh now I remember you," the pirate boy said. "You tried all these stupid tricks last year."

"Yeah, yeah. You want your candy?" Stan stood up and held out the bucket. The boys put their hands inside, but pulled them out to find red sticky substance on them. They gasped.

"Oh, sorry, forgot to tell you that I store the blood of my victims with my candy," Stan said slyly. Ford just watched in amazement. Stan really knew how to play this field.

"Hey mister, have you ever seen this video?" The Viking boy asked, holding out his phone.

"Nice try, but I'm up to date on your young technology." His lips curved up into a wicked grin. He leaned down to the boy. "But you can show my brother, here?"

The boy shoved the phone into Ford's face. "Look at this, Mister."

Ford watched a video of a couple of puppies playing. Ford smiled. "Aw how cute—" Suddenly the video changed to a hideous face and a high pitched scream. Ford cried out, his hand went to his waist, inside the costume. It came out with his inter-dimensional gun. A beam shot the phone right out of the kid's hand. It landed on the wood panels and shattered into pieces. All four of them looked down at the mess of plastic shards. Stan shoved a couple of hundred dollar bills toward the boys. "Here take this to replace your phone and keep your mouths shut." The boys eyed one another and ran off.

House after house, Dipper, Mabel, Candy and Grenda enjoyed the festivities of trick or treating. It was much more enjoyable without a monster threatening their lives. The four of them just left Lazy Susan's house.

"She was much kinder to us this year," Dipper said as he held up three pieces of 'good' candy.

"Yeah bro. You know we get better treats when you wear the costume," Mabel replied.

"So, what now?" Candy asked.

"What time is it?" Dipper asked.

A few people came out of their homes and blew out the candles in their jack o melons.

"It must be around nine or so," Mabel answered.

"Nine?" Dipper cried out, almost hysterically. "The party is at nine!"

Mabel spun around, narrowing her eyes. "Dipper!"

"A party?" Grenda asked.

"Where is this party?" Candy asked.

Mabel sighed. "Wendy is throwing another party."

"So, you and Dipper are going?" Candy continued.

Mabel stared at her two best girlfriends. "You know, I was going to go, but forget it. There's still more trick or treating to do!"

"Mabel! I thought we agreed we were going together."

His sister cocked her head to the side, her eyes focused on him as if he were a puzzle. "Why do you need me to go with you? Just go on your own."

Dipper opened his mouth, but then lost his words. He studied his twin for a moment. "Really? Last year you were pissed at me because I wanted to go to a party."

"I'm not that same person anymore. Just go. We all had our fun."

A small smile formed on his mouth. "Okay. If you guys want, just come later. I'm sure Wendy and her friends won't mind."

Mabel shrugged. "We might," she replied.

Dipper ran off. Mabel's smile slowly faded. She knew it would be selfish of her to tell Dipper to stay with them, but that's what she really wanted.

 **N/A: Thanks for reading. Happy Halloween!**


	3. Part II: Murderous Monsters

**N/A: Hello,**

 **I know Halloween is over and Christmas just exploded in all the stores, however, I'm still going to finish the story. This story is not going to be that long, probably two or three more chapters. So, I hope you enjoy this next part. Leave a review if you'd like. I respond to any question I receive.**

 **Thanks!**

Part II: Haunted Hayrides and Murderous Monsters

Dark clouds hung low in the sky, partially covering the full moon. The cool air slowly turned frigid. Dipper, who already ditched the costume, kept a fast pace down the dirt trail deep in the woods. His eyes moved to the flyer in his hands. The location of the party was at Hillington Farm. He had never been there before, not that he had a reason for going. Gravity Falls was more of a lumberjack town, but it the town to had its farming community as well.

It wasn't too hard to find this place, given that loud rock music blasted in the distance. He walked through the brush to see the lit up barn. Smoke rose from the bonfire behind it. As Dipper approached the party area, Wendy ran toward him.

"Dude! You made it!" She suddenly realized he was alone. "Mabel didn't come?"

Dipper shrugged. "She and her friends wanted to trick or treat more."

"Okay. Come into the barn. We've got lots of food." The two walked into a colorful display of streamers. It looked like Mabel decorated the place.

"So, what's going on with this haunted hayride?" he asked.

"Oh that? We're going to do it in about an hour or so. Just chill out for now."

His eyes scanned the place to see other teenagers lounging about. A few wore costumes, but most people were dressed in black hoodies. He knew it was a good idea to get rid of his costume.

Wendy had gone off to talk to some people. As Dipper tried to 'play it cool' and hang out by the snacks, he heard someone call him.

"Hey, Dip!" He turned to see Robbie and Tambry stroll over. Neither one wore a real costume. Robbie wore a black hoodie with a skull on it and Tambry wore her normal Goth clothes. Dipper coolly returned a wave.

"Hey, what's up?"

"You're sister didn't come?" Robbie asked. Dipper was surprised he cared.

"No. She's hanging out with her friends, you know."

He pushed out the air through his noise in a disgusted tone. "She probably wouldn't fit in anyway. She's too kiddish."

Dipper narrowed his eyes, "What do you mean she wouldn't fit in? She's part of our group." Robbie shrugged.

"Are you going on the hayride?" he asked.

Dipper nodded. "Yeah, can't wait!"

Tambry pushed her violet hair out of her eyes before she spoke.

"Just so you know, it's pretty crazy. We've got this driver and he zigzags through the cornfield. Monsters pop out of anywhere and jump onto the trailer."

"Sounds cool," Dipper responded.

"Don't wuss out," Robbie curtly said.

"Whatever. Not going to happen," he replied.

After some time waiting, everyone stood outside the barn. Cheers rang from the teenagers as a pickup truck carrying a trailer made its way towards them. Dipper stood between Wendy and Robbie, shouting along with everyone. It was then, someone tapped him on the shoulder. Dipper turned around to see Mabel, still dressed in her candy costume.

"Mabel? You came?" he asked.

"Yeah. I told you I would." He detected some hostility in her voice, but he quickly dismissed it.

"But you said you wanted to keep trick or treating."

"I did. And now I'm here." She narrowed her eyes suddenly "Where's your costume?"

Dipper turned his eyes away sheepishly. "It was getting uncomfortable." Mabel squint her eyes. She didn't entirely believe that.

When the truck pulled up, the driver eerily turned his head to look at the teenagers eagerly waiting for a ride. He wore a black mask, completely shrouding his face. Everyone climbed into the trailer covered in hay. All was still for a moment, then suddenly, the driver took off, squealing the wheels. The teens all screamed as they were being thrown this way and that by the sudden jerks.

In the distance, a dummy made to look like a body hung from a tree. As the pick-up truck passed the tree, it skimmed part of the tree trunk, causing the dummy to fall into the trailer. The teens screamed as the fake blood from the body got onto their skin and clothes.

"Chill out you guys!" Wendy called. "It's not real." She and Dipper grabbed the dummy and sat it next to them on the bench. Everyone laughed as the ride continued. The truck tore through the field, kicking up ears of corn. Some kids grabbed some corn and either did sword fights or just threw them around.

All of the sudden, the truck came to an abrupt stopped, tossing the teenagers of their bench. Dipper fell sideways onto Wendy. She laughed as Dipper blushed. "S-sorry," he said straightening himself up. Mabel got up from the trailer's bed and sat next to Candy. "Wow! I didn't expect this to be such a wild ride," she said.

"I'm not sure if this was my best choice," Candy replied. "I'm getting a little motion sickness."

"Just throw up over the side," Grenda suggested. "In fact, I'm going to do that right now!" She turned her head over the railing and regurgitated probably the entire evening's worth of candy she stuffed down her throat.

The truck took off again, speeding through the field. More zigzags flung everyone around. Dipper suddenly realized his knuckles were white because of how hard he gripped the side of the trailer. The motorist of the truck unexpectedly hit the breaks and this time the trailer rammed into the back of the truck. Growls erupted from the fields as 'monsters' popped out of the corn and charged onto the trailer. The teens already knew they were people in costume so everyone laughed as the costume wearers spoke in deep, demonic voices, trying to scare them. The 'monsters' chose a person to walk up to and pretended to stab them with a fake dagger. The kids acted like they were dying as the 'monsters' poured fake blood onto them. The 'monsters' left and the teens laughed as the truck pulled them on down the trail.

The truck pulled onto the road, heading towards a covered bridge. All of the riders anticipated the next event as the vehicle came to another sudden halt. Bubbles erupted from the water below. Some weird type of blob monster popped out of the water and ran for the trailer. It roared at the kids and they screamed. He grabbed one teenage boy and dragged him off the trailer and into the water. Dipper, Mabel, Candy and Grenda watched wide-eyed and horrified.

"He's fine," Wendy said with a casual wave of her hand. It's part of the show.

The truck changed its pace as it slowly went through the covered bridge. As the trailer was halfway through the tunnel, the whinny of a horse echoed all of them. All eyes jumped all over the area trying to determine the location of the sound. Suddenly, the heavy sound of hoofs echoed in the tunnel.

"It's a glowing horse," Mabel said pointed at a ghostly white horse with red eyes trotted towards them.

"Hey driver!" Wendy called. "You might want to step on it!" Dipper could tell she was pretending to be scared as a wide smile covered her face. The driver suddenly took off just as the horse reached the trailer. Everyone got a good look at the headless rider wearing a dark cloak.

"How does that work with him not having a head?" Dipper asked. "I mean, how can he see where he's going?"

"Don't ruin the scary stuff, Bro-Bro," Mabel said.

The truck tore out of the trailer, swerving around trees and knocking more cans of fake blood onto everyone.

Up ahead was the barn. The wild ride ended and the teenagers climbed out of the trailer, laughing and chatting about how cool the hayride went. Some tossed hay at each other while in the trailer. Dipper followed Wendy off the trailer as Mabel led the way for Candy and Grenda. Someone screamed. Everyone turned as a teenage boy freaked out.

"He's dead! He's actually dead!"

Everyone laughed as they thought it was a joke. However, tears ran down the young man's checks. No one moved. Finally, Dipper got back onto the trailer with Wendy following him. Dipper felt like he was falling for someone's trick, but he put two fingers on the side of the fallen boy's neck. Nothing. Dipper breathed in a few times and tried again. He couldn't feel the pulse. The smell of blood hit him. It was real. Dipper turned to Wendy as his skin turned pale.

"Wendy," he whispered. "He's not breathing."

 **N/A: Thanks for reading!**


	4. Part III: Sleuthing Around

**A/N: Thank Little Amber Amethyst and Really Bored Guy for your reviews. I'm glad you like the story so far. Anyone is welcome to read and leave any comments or questions.**

 **Here's part III**

Part III: Sleuthing Around

For a long time, no one spoke. All eyes went to the boy who possible lay dead in the back of the trailer. The young man who sat next to his fallen friend continued crying his eyes out, despite the possible ridicule from his peers.

"S-should we call the police?" Dipper asked Wendy. By now, the driver got out of the truck and walked over. He took off his mask, revealing a familiar face wearing a baseball cap. Dipper squint his eyes at the heavyset twenty-something year old.

"Soos?"

"Hey Little Dude." He climbed up onto the trailer and looked down the bloodied body of the teenage boy. "Dude," he said with forlorn. He turned to the other kids. "I guess I'll call the sheriff."

Ten to fifteen minutes later, Sheriff Blubbs and Deputy Durland arrived on the scene. They looked over the fallen teenager, looked at each other and removed their hats and bowed their heads.

"Call an ambulance, Durland and tell them the victim is deceased," the Sheriff spoke grimly.

Dipper felt his heart plummet to his feet.

"He's dead?" his voice cracked when he spoke.

By now the teenage boy who first announced his friend was dead, sat on the ground balling his eyes out.

"Todd! I n-never should have asked you to c-come," his voice shook uncontrollably. Wendy and Dipper slowly approached the boy. He looked at them through blurred vision.

"I'm sorry," Wendy said finally.

"Me too." Dipper added.

"It's my fault!" the boy cried out. "T-Todd didn't want to come. Stuff like this freaks him out! I-I called him a baby and told him to come!"

Dipper sat on the ground next to the young teen. "What's your name?" he asked.

"J-Josh," he responded.

"Do you go to Gravity Falls High School?" Wendy asked.

He nodded. "I'm a Freshman this year." Both Wendy and Dipper continued talking to the young man to keep him calm until help arrived.

When the ambulance arrived, the EMTs examined the fallen victim, then quickly put him in a body bag and onto a gurney. The Sheriff and Deputy walked up to Josh.

"That was your friend, huh?" Blubbs asked.

Josh nodded. "Come on, we'll take you home." The young man followed the two officers to their car.

Dipper turned to Wendy. "Something about this whole thing doesn't feel right. How did this happen?"

"I have no idea," Wendy answered. "Somewhere between when we all got onto the ride and when we got off, the guy got stabbed for real.

"What about those people dressed as monsters who jumped onto the trailer? They were pretending to stab someone. One of them must have stabbed Todd for real." Dipper put his head in one hand, his brow furrowed as he was deep in thought. "Wendy, who was dressed in those costumes?"

"Kids from school. I know their names, but I don't know them that well," she admitted.

"We need to talk to them," Dipper concluded.

"Okay, one of them is Tambry's brother. Where is she?" Wendy gazed through the crowd of teens until she spotted her friend with purple hair. Wendy waved her over.

"Hey," she said in a defeated tone.

"Tambry, your brother dressed up as one of the monsters, right?" Wendy asked.

"Yeah, Chris was one of the monsters in the field. Why?"

Wendy gave a sideways glance to Dipper as she slowly answered. "Because, we wanted to talk to him. I'm sure he's not responsible for what happened, but maybe he saw something unusual while he was out there."

"Saw something unusual?" Tambry repeated. "Like what?"

Wendy let out a long sigh. "Look, someone stabbed that kid for real. I know it wasn't Chris. I'm guessing it was one of the other two."

Tambry narrowed her eyes. "No way! The other two boys are Chris' friends, and none of those boys would have **ever** hurt anyone!"

"I know Tambry, but—" Wendy was at a loss for words.

"Listen," Dipper cut in. "Some time during the ride, that boy got stabbed. I don't want to believe that anyone who dressed up as one of the monsters wanted to hurt someone. However, someone is now dead and I intend on finding out what happened to him." He received a long, hard look from Tambry before she casually shrugged her shoulders.

"Whatever," she spoke with irritation. Go ahead and talk to them. None of them did anything." She turned her heels and stormed away.

In the suburban neighborhood, all of the jack-o-melons were out and everyone had turned off their porch light. Stan sat in his yellow chair staring at some B-horror movie on the TV screen. On the screen, people ran through a cornfield as monsters with chainsaws chased them. Blood squirted everywhere as multiple victims fell to the ground. Ford walked into the room, his eyes focused on Stan's unimpressed stare and then went to the TV.

"What the hell is this crap?" he asked.

Stan shrugged. "Pointless violence with no plot. It's enough to keep me entertained."

"Yeah, you look thoroughly entertained," Ford replied, rolling his eyes. All of the sudden, a loud crash came from outside.

"What was that?" Ford asked as he spun around.

"Probably a raccoon knocked over the trashcan," he said without a care.

"Well, that isn't good," his brother replied. He raced out the front door. Stan got up and followed after him.

Outside, Stan shined a flashlight toward the three fallen trashcans. No animals were seen, but a shadow within one of the cans moved. Ford moved closer to it, pulling out his gun. Slowly, he peered inside. Suddenly, the shadow sprang from the trashcan and some strange force knocked him down.

"What was that?" Stan cried out.

Ford slowly got up and looked all around for the critter that the shadow belonged to. Stan moved the light all around the area, but didn't see anything.

"I guess it's gone," he said.

"What's gone?" Ford asked with a bit of worry. "I never saw what it was!"

"Don't worry about it. Let's just go back inside."

Dipper and Wendy walked up to the three boys who played the monsters during the hayride. Before they approached the boys however, Mabel stepped in front of them.

"Hey Bro-Bro!" she greeted cheerfully.

"Mabel, what are you doing?" Dipper asked.

"I heard you're on an investigation. You can't have the Mystery Twins without—uh, twins!" she ended with a wide grin.

Dipper raised an eyebrow. "I guess you can tag along," he said as he continued with Wendy over to the three teenage boys. Mabel's eyes dropped.

"Tag along?" she questioned sadly.

Wendy greeted a boy with bright blue hair, dressed in a black hoodie. "Hey Chris, how's it going?" Chris squint his brown eyes at her.

"Oh, my sister said you wanted to talk to us. What's this about?"

Dipper stared down at the boy. "Okay look. I'm sorry to have to ask you guys, but we need to know if any of you saw anything unusual while you were out there in the field?" The three boys exchanged bewildered glances.

"No," Chris answered quickly.

"Which one of you approached Todd?"

"Who's Todd?" Chris asked.

Dipper studied the boy carefully. "The guy who's dead!" he answered stiffly.

"Well none of us killed him if that's what you're wondering!" Chris returned hastily. Mabel poked her head over Dipper's shoulder.

"We know that. However, you three are suspects," she said.

Each pair of eyes from the boys widen in horror.

"What the hell?" Chris burst out. "Why?"

"Because, you guys were pretending to stab people on the trailer and pouring fake blood onto them," Wendy replied. Someone stabbed Todd for real so someone had a real knife on them."

"You can search me," Chris said. I don't have any weapons on me." Wendy did just that. She searched all three boys and found nothing.

"Well, you guys could have gotten rid of the weapon by now," Dipper pointed out.

"Look, unless you want me to punch you in the face, kid. Get out of my face!" Chris spat out at Dipper. Wendy stared daggers at the boy, but he didn't falter. He was Tambry's brother, she realized.

"Okay, we'll leave you alone for now," Wendy said. She turned to Dipper. "There are two other suspects, the girl in the blob costume and guy on the horse."

"Neither of them got close to Todd though," Dipper replied.

"Yeah, but maybe they saw something," Mabel suggested.

"Okay," he replied.

The girl who dressed up as the sea creature was out of her costume now. She wore overalls a white t-shirt and heavy boots, her blonde hair in pigtail braids.

She stood by the barn smoking a cigarette.

"Hey Sherrie," Wendy greeted. Sherrie turned toward the group.

"Wendy, I'm surprised you're still here. Didn't get scared off?"

"Are you kidding?" Wendy asked as she laughed. "Hey, I wondered if you saw anything weird during the hayride?"

The girl narrowed her eyes. "No. I just waited in the water like we all planned and did my thing when the truck approached the bridge."

"Hey, how did you stay in the water for so long?" Mabel asked. Dipper glared at her as if to say, 'who cares?'

"Oh, I was wearing a mask and snorkel," she responded. "So, yeah, I didn't see anything usual." At that moment, a man with the same blonde hair as her walked over.

"We should get out of here, Sherrie," he said.

"Yeah, okay Dad." She squished the cigarette under her boot.

"Wait, you rode the horse, right?" Wendy asked the father.

He nodded. "Yep."

"Did you see anything weird?" Dipper asked.

"You mean anything weirder than what I usually see in this town? Kid, I've seen gnomes, tiny mountain lions, giant squirrels and don't forget the apocalypse that happened last year—"

"Yeah, I know, but did you see anything strange while you were on the horse? Did anyone on the trailer maybe I don't know, look like they stabbed someone?" Wendy turned to Dipper as her mouth fell open. Someone already on the ride could have easily done it. The kids already pretended to stab each other; it would have been so easy.

"Well, now we have a bunch more suspects," Mabel said.

"Look, I wouldn't go around playing detective, kids," the man said. "You should just go home."

Dipper narrowed his eyes. "Are you kidding me? Do you know who we are? We're one third of a wheel that saved everyone."

"Actually, the wheel didn't work," Mabel reminded him.

He spun around and glared at his twin. "Well, it would have—"

"I'm just offering some friendly and wise advice," the man said. "Come on Sherrie, let's get going." The girl waved as she followed her father to a red pickup truck.

"So, now we question everyone on the ride?" Mabel asked.

Wendy looked around as most of the kids had cleared out of the area.

"I don't know. Wait, who sat next to Todd?"

"That kid, Josh did. But he didn't do it," Dipper replied.

"No, I mean, on the other side of Todd—" Then it came to her. "Robbie—"

Dipper and Mabel stared thoughtfully at Wendy as she finished her sentence. "Robbie sat on the other side of Todd."


	5. Part IV: Something Revealed in the Light

**N/A: Hello, it's been a year since I started writing this story. I lost motivation after the holiday season, but it's almost Halloween, so I found inspiration again. The plan is to put up this chapter than the final chapter by the 31st.**

 **Thank you to everyone who still is around to read the rest of the story.**

Part IV: Something Revealed in the Light

Street lamps lit a path down Robbi's street. Dipper stood at the end of the block with Mabel and Wendy.

"Just letting you know, if you try to interrogate Robbie, he's most likely going to beat your face," the redhead said to him.

"Don't worry!" Mabel said excitedly. "Dipper is used to getting hit in the face!" Her brother returned a frigged stare. "And he's got us! Two girls who've taken on gnomes, ghosts and snobby unicorns!"

"Okay, let's go," Dipper said, leading the way.

The old funeral home peeked out of the fog, the lights adding an eerie glow. The trio walked up the steps to the front porch, each step creaking loudly under their feet. Raising his hand, Dipper knocked a few times, the _clank_ of metal against the wood rang in his ears. It took a moment, but a woman finally answered. Her bright red curls bounced around her head.

"Welcome! You must be some late trick or treaters. Let me see if we have any candy left."

"Actually, we're here to see Robbie," Dipper spoke quickly.

"Oh Robbie is actually in the backyard. He's such a night owl," she laughed.

"Thank you," Mabel said.

The three teens walked around the house to the back. Robbie stood by an empty grave, a cigarette in his hand.

"Hey Robbie," Wendy called. He turned with his hoody covering half his face.

"Wendy and the twins," he said solemnly. "What you guys doing?"

Dipper glanced at Wendy and Mabel, their eyes giving him reassurance.

"Uh, Robbie, we came here to ask you something,"

Robbie leaned on the gravestone. "Yeah?"

"We're trying to find out who killed Todd and-"

"And you came to me. Of course you did!" his voice rang out. "Because I sat next to him, right?"

The other three stared wide eyed at each other.

Wendy spoke first. "Robbie, you didn't-"

"Oh my God! Of course not! Believe it or not, I don't go around killing people! But I'm an easy culprit, right?"

Dipper narrowed his eyes. "No one said that," he spoke harshly. "But, maybe you saw who did."

Robbie turned away. "Nope." He took puff of his cigarette and blew out the smoke. From his pocket, he pulled out his pack and handed it to Wendy. Dipper and Mabel turned to her with open mouths.

"I don't smoke anymore," she said. He pulled his arm away.

Robbie spoke again. "I know that he got hacked when we were in the tunnel."

"How?" Dipper asked.

"Because, he was really loud, shouting and everything. It was the perfect time, no one would see what happened. After we went through the tunnel, he got really quiet."

"Robbie, please, do you have any idea who might have killed him?"

"It could be anyone. People were pretending to stab each other too."

"Then we question everyone on the hayride," Mabel said excitedly.

"That could take all night!" Dipper complained.

"Then we stay up all night! We'll work on this case until we solve it, even if it takes until Christmas-in July-which is next month."

"Sorry Mabel, but Dipper is right," Wendy said. "It's almost midnight. No one is going to want us questioning them right now."

Mabel hung her head. Dipper noticed the name engraved on the headstone Robbie leaned on. He saw T O-

"Robbie, whose name is that?" The teen looked down. It was then he recognized the name, because he hopped away from it, revealing the rest of the letters. Todd Crane.

"Oh, I guess this is where he's being put," Robbie said.

"Well, it looks like we're done here," Dipper said. Robbie grunted before walking into his house.

"So, that's it?" Mabel asked. "I feel cheated somehow."

"Hey! There's one thing we can still do tonight. Let's go to the shack," Wendy said.

The trio arrived at the Mystery Shack ten minutes later. The door opened as they approached. Ford jumped out holding his gun at them.

"What do you want?!" he screamed. Everyone cried out and hit the ground.

"Hey, I keep getting better at scaring people," he said.

Dipper stood up, glaring at his great uncle. "Are you crazy?!"

"Oh don't be a sissy. It's a squirt gun." He sprayed his nephew with water. "How did the hayride go?" The kids turned to each other with glum faces.

"I guess the news hasn't covered what happened yet," Dipper said.

"Someone was killed on the hayride," Wendy said. "I mean, killed for real."

"What? When did this happen?"

"Like around-10:30 maybe."

Ford's eyes narrowed.

"So where have you three been all that time?"

"We've been trying to figure out who did it," Mabel said proudly.

Her uncle sighed heavily. "Inside. Now." He said sternly.

As soon as everyone entered the living room, the lecture started.

"First of all, I'm glad you're all safe," Ford began. "Second, can you explain to me why you were out late playing detective?"

"We were looking for the killer," Dipper said with exasperation.

"And what were you planning to do when you found them?"

The three of teens stuttered in response.

"Turn them in?" Dipper tried. Ford raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Hey, after what we all faced last year, we can bring in some loser who killed a teenager for fun."

"Does the sheriff know about this?"

"Yeah, they came down there," Wendy answered.

"Then, they can take over the detective work. You three need to get some sleep." Ford said before he turned to Wendy. "Do you need a ride home?"

"Yeah, I guess so," she responded.

After saying goodbye to Wendy, the twins walked up the stairs into the attic. As they looked outside their window, everything that happened that night sunk in. The case wasn't over yet.

"Mabel," Dipper began. "Someone died tonight. I don't know about you, but I can't just let this go."

"Me neither," she agreed.

"How are we going to question all those people?" Dipper wondered.

"Hey, remember when we had to figure out who killed the wax statue of Grunkle Stan? We figured it out. We'll figure this out too." Dipper nodded and they both went to their beds. Neither twin could fall asleep right away, they both lay in bed with their eyes staring at the ceiling. An hour or so later, both were sound asleep.

The sun rose over the mountaintops, shining its rays down onto the town. Mabel woke up first. She looked inside her bag of candy. Dipper didn't have a bag since he skipped trick or treating last night. Her eyes scaled over to her brother's bed, where he still slept. She decided to let her brother slumber and went downstairs by herself.

In the kitchen, her two grunkles sat at the table drinking coffee.

"Good morning," she said in her most enthusiastic tone.

"Morning," they both returned.

"Where's your brother?" Stan asked.

"He's still asleep," Mabel said. Stan set down his mug with a question mark on the side.

"I'll go get him up."

"No, Stan, let him sleep," Ford told his brother.

"He's got work to do," Stan answered.

"What work does he have to do?" Ford pressed.

Stan stood up. "Taking down the decorations." He walked out into the hallway. Ford shook his head. HIs glance moved to Mabel. She knitted something, but he couldn't tell what it was.

"What are you making?"

Mabel looked up with a smile. "It's a sweater for Waddles." The pig that heard his name trotted over. "Hi there, my pig in a blanket. It's not ready yet. I need to know if you want a pink heart or a yellow star?" He responded with a few snorts.

"Alright, I'll do both," she petted him.

Ford laughed. "I've never seen someone love a pig so much," he said.

"Grunkle Ford, do you really think the Sheriff and Deputy will find out who killed Todd?"

"That's the name of the kid?" Mabel nodded. "I hope so."

"But, they may need help like they did last year."

"What happened last year?"

While Mabel recanted the story about the wax figures coming to life last summer, Dipper was being pushed down the stairs by his great uncle.

"Why can't I just sleep for another hour?" Dipper whined.

"Because, sleeping in late is bad habit forming," Stan answered. "Now get on the roof and take down those decorations. Wendy will be here soon to help you." Dipper smiled. He guessed it wouldn't be too bad. Maybe the two could talk more about the case.

An hour later, Dipper and Wendy were on the roof taking down the big banner that read, 'Happy Summerween.' Down below, Stan and Ford were raking leaves. Well, Ford was the one raking, Stan just stood there drinking more coffee.

"Are you going to do anything?" Ford asked.

"I am doing something; a very important job, in fact. I'm supervising."

Ford did an eye roll. "You're standing there, doing nothing," he stated. Ford's eyes moved to the trash cans, one still lay on its side.

"I thought I picked all of them up," he said as he walked over. He lifted the can to stand upright, then went back to raking. When he was done, he handed Stan the rake. Stan squint his eyes as he stared at the handle of the instrument.

"What's all that black stuff?"

"Black stuff?" Ford asked. He looked down to see black smudges all over the wooden handle. Then he looked down at his hands, which were also black. "What the hell?"

"You must have touched something."

"I only touched the rake and I touched the trash can." HIs eyes suddenly popped wide open. Ford walked over to the trash can. Taking a clean finger, he swiped the edge. The tip of his finger was now black. "What's all over the trash can?"

Stan walked over. He looked at the other two, then at the third one Ford inspected. "Some black stuff, I guess." Ford continued as he looked inside the can.

"I need a flashlight," he said.

Stan looked up to the roof. "Dipper! Get a flashlight!"

Ford turned to his brother with narrowed eyes. "You go get it!"

"Fine," Stan responded in a huff.

A moment later, Stan came back with the huge flashlight. Ford shined it inside the can. There was a black substance all over the inside of the barrel. It was a good thing, the trash cans were originally gray, or else he wouldn't have noticed.

"I'll be right back."

Moments later, Ford returned wearing his gloves and goggles. He scooped the black substance and put it inside a beaker.

"I'm going to test this stuff," he said.

"Of course you'd turn all of this into a science experiment," Stan said.

After Dipper and Wendy were finished taking down the decorations, Dipper wandered down to the basement where he found his great uncle.

"So, you found something interesting in the trash can?" Dipper asked.

Ford let out a long sigh. "Dipper, we've got a big problem. A horrible creature has been let loose." He turned to Dipper, his eyes hardened. "I am going to be joining you kids on this murder hunt."

Dipper's eyes grew wide. Then he nodded.

 **Thanks again for reading.**


	6. Part V:Gathering Shadows

**N/A: This was supposed to be the last chapter, but I had more ideas come to me, so it is going to be a few more updates. Thanks and enjoy!**

Part V: Gathering Shadows

The sun hung low in the sky, and Dipper waited anxiously for his great uncle to come out of the basement. He was in such deep concentration, he didn't hear Mabel walk up behind him.

"Hey bro-bro, want a candy bracelet?" Her voice shocked him so much, he practically jumped a mile high and screech as the top of his lungs. Then, he gasped for air, breathing heavily.

"Are you okay?"

"Okay? Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be okay?" he stuttered.

Mabel raised an eyebrow at her brother's behavior.

The vending machine opened and Ford walked out holding an old book in his hands.

"Hi kids, I wanted to have a talk with you two. Why don't you come down to my study?"

Dipper's eyes popped wide open. He hadn't been down in his uncle's study in months.

"Yeah, sure!" he practically screamed.

"Me too?" Mabel asked.

Ford nodded. "Yeah. I want to share my discovery with both of you."

Mabel stared at her uncle for a long time. Usually, this was the sort of thing he would only share with Dipper.

"You know I'm not good with all that sciency stuff, right?"

"It's fine, Mabel. I'll explain everything." He walked through the open space that led behind the vending machine. The twins followed. The door closed behind them as they continued down a small flight of steps towards an elevator. Ford entered another code and the doors slid open. Everyone entered the lift and it slowly lowered them down to the second floor.

Once in the study, Ford opened his book to a particular page. Then he grabbed the test beaker with black substance inside.

"Do either of you know what a wraith is?" he asked.

"Yes. It's a ghost or maybe apparition is more appropriate," Dipper answered.

Ford nodded. "Well this is one that is very vengeful."

"Oh," Dipper answered downtrodden.

"So a ghost is making that black stuff?" Mabel asked.

"It doesn't really 'make' the stuff. Some spirits have been known to leave some kind of ectoplasmic substance, but since this stuff is black, that means, the apparition has become more demonic."

"This isn't sounding good," Dipper said.

Ford looked down at the page in his book. "Well, you can read this information about wraiths and then you decide."

Dipper read the passage out loud. "Spirits who never find rest become wandering souls. The longer a soul is a wanderer, the more negative energy attaches to them. They become soulless in some sense and feed off any negative energy they can find from those still living. The two emotions they feed off of are anger and fear. These spirits have come to be known as wraiths or shades." Dipper looked down at a picture of a shadowy figure below the words.

"Why are you showing us this?" he finally asked his uncle.

"Because, I think this thing is responsible for that boy getting killed."

Dipper narrowed his eyes. "Wait, how do you know? Todd was stabbed during the hayride. At no time, did anyone see something supernatural."

"That's just it," Ford said sadly. "Wraiths possess people. You wouldn't have seen the spirit."

"Again, how do you know?" Dipper pressed.

"I found the black ash left in the trash can. Last night, while you kids were out, Stan and I heard something knock all three bins over. When we investigated, some shadowy thing jumped out at me. I never saw what it was, but found the ash earlier today.

"I think what my brother means is, what does that have to do with what happened at the hayride. The two events seems unrelated." Mabel stopped, realizing her chose of words sounded smarter than her usual speech.

"I guess they do, but I have one more thing to show you two." Ford opened the bottom drawer and pulled out an old news article. "Stan told me that the hayride was going on at Hilltop Farm? Read this." He handed it to Mabel this time.

"'Another murder happened at the old farm. Not only have people stopped buying food, but now animals are disappearing.' This paper is dated in 1974, over thirty years ago." She looked up at her great uncle. "Is this something you investigated?"

"Yes. However, I never found anything. I've always found more anomalies in the forest than anywhere else.

"So, because murders happened at this farm a long time ago, you think it's happening again?" Dipper asked.

"Well, I at least want to check," Ford replied.

"Well, you're gonna have to talk to the farmer. If he will talk to you," Mabel said. "Because he wouldn't talk to us."

"Really? We'll, I'm sure he'll give me a different attitude," Ford said. "We can go there now." A wide smile crossed the mouths of each twin. They followed their uncle to the elevator.

Ford led the way through the shop and towards the door. Just as he put a hand on the doorknob, someone called to him.

"Hey, where are all you going?"

Everyone turned to see Stan walking in from the house.

"We have an important matter to attend to," Ford quickly explained.

"Grunkle Ford is going to help us find the killer!" Mabel exclaimed. Both Ford and Dipper shot her a hard stare. Mabel shifted her eyes between the two of them.

"Was that supposed to be a secret?"

Stan stomped towards his brother. "Really? You're doing this again?"

"What exactly am I doing that you don't approve of?"

"You're taking the kids out on one of your monster hunts."

"Monster? No. I'm just going to talk to someone I haven't seen in awhile. He owns the Hilltop Farm. They kids are coming with me because I forgot where the farm is." Stan squint his eyes as if he didn't believe what he was being told. "You can come too."

Stan crossed his arms. "Yeah, I think I will."

The four exited the shop and headed towards Stan's car. Dipper went to one side of the car and Mabel went to the other. Stan and Ford went for the driver's side door at the same time.

"I"m driving," they said at the same time.

"You don't have a legal license , Stanley," Ford reminded him.

"Neither do you, at least, not anymore."

"I'll handle this," Mabel said. "Grunkle Stan, pick a number between one and ten.

"Fifteen."

Ford rolled his eyes, but couldn't help laughing at his brother's antics.

"Come on," Mabel begged. "Please just do this."

"Fine. Uh, seven. It's a lucky number."

"Three," Ford said his number."

"The number is nine. Stan gets to drive

"Ha!" Stan belted out.

"I don't know about this," Ford said.

"Now, now. Grunkle Stan won fair and square." Ford sighed and walked to the passenger side.

After fifteen minutes of driving mostly on the grass, bumping into logs and almost hitting a deer, the car pulled up to the entrance of the farm.

"See, I got us here okay," Stan said as he got out of the car. Ford still grit his teeth as his fingernails dug into the upholstery of his seat.

Everyone piled out of the vehicle and started up the dirt path towards the farmhouse. The house was behind the large barn. It looked smaller than the shack. Ford led the way up to the quaint front porch with two lawn chairs and hanging plants. He knocked on the door a few times and waited. However, no one came.

"Oh great, don't tell me we came out here for nothing," Stan said.

"What are you doing here?" A voice shouted from behind them. They all turned to see a rifle aimed at them. The blonde holding the gun looked familiar to Sherrie, but older.

"Easy. We just wanted to talk to the farmer who lives here," Ford explained.

"What do you want with my husband?" she asked.

"Elise!" A man yelled. The man Dipper and Mabel saw the previous day ran over. He whispered something to the woman. The only audible words were _calm down_ and _medicine._

The woman walked passed everyone and went into the house.

"Sorry about that, my wife is a well-a little paranoid at times."

Ford could relate. He walked over to the farmer and held out his hand.

"Hi, I"m Stanford PInes, that's my brother, Stanley, my grandnephew, Dipper and my grand niece, Mabel."

"Yes, I've already met your grandchildren," the man said solemnly.

"Uh, grand niece and nephew," Ford clarified.

"Are you aware of what happened here yesterday?" the man asked.

"Yes. Well, the kids told me."

"A teenage boy was killed-on my property." He raised and lowered his arms with exasperation. "That's what I get for allowing my daughter to throw a Summerween party."

"If I may uh, I'm sorry, didn't get your name."

"Daryl Mac. Listen, I don't want to be rude. I just don't want anyone else getting hurt on my farm. My father already had to deal with supernatural stuff happening here thirty years ago. Now it's my turn I guess."

"Then, it's your father I talked to back then.  
"Sorry?" Daryl asked.

"I study anomalies. I was on this farm thirty years ago investigating all the strange happenings here."

"I have no idea what anomalies are for one. Two, my father never mentioned some weird guy in a trenchcoat coming here to do anything." Ford squint his eyes at the man.

"I'm a scientist."

"Oh really, with a PHD and everything?"

"Twelve," Ford replied. "If there is anything abnormal here, I'll find it."

Daryl crossed his arms. "And what will you do when you find it? You don't have any business here."

"Hey, my brother is trying to help you out," Stan said. "Just let us take a look around."

"No. Now please leave." Daryl walked up the steps of his front porch, then entered his home.

"We're not leaving, are we?" Mabel asked.

"Not a chance," Ford responded. "I'm not sure if any of you noticed, but my watch has been going crazy since we got out of the car." Dipper looked at his uncle's watch. The needle wound in a clockwise motion as multiple red dots flashed on the tiny screen.

"So, where are the anomalies?" he asked.

"Well, I'm getting some in that direction," he pointed towards the barn.

"Oh of course, the creepy barn. Great," Stan said sarcastically.

Ford ignored his brother as he pointed towards the field. "And some over there."

"The cornfield. That's where the hayride was," Mabel noted.

"So, which one are we checking out first?" Dipper asked.

"Let's go to the barn. It's a smaller area."

In the darkness and fog, the barn appeared decrypted, as if no one has been near it in years. It was hard to believe that there was a lively party going on the previous night. There was a padlock on a latch, keeping the doors from opening. Stan smirked at the poor excuse keeping them out. With a lockpick, he easily triggered the lock to click. He took off the lock and undid the latch.

"Great work, Stan," Ford said as he entered.

"Yeah. Finally you see the value in my skills."

Ford put a kind hand on his brother's shoulder. "I've seen a lot of good things in you since last year. Let's take a good look around. Let me know if you find anything out of the ordinary."

Dipper and Mabel moved over to the ladder leading up into the hayloft.

"Let's see what's up there," Mabel said.

"I don't know. Maybe we should wait until-" Dipper stopped when he realized his sister was already on the ladder.

Up in the loft, the two pushed through barrels of hay.

"What are we supposed to find up here?" Dipper asked.

Mabel shrugged. As she moved a few more inches, she suddenly fell through the hay.

"Mabel!" Dipper shouted as she too was sinking into the straw. He kept falling all the way through until he landed on another pile of hay.

"Dipper!" He turned towards his twin's voice. Mabel waved at him in another pile of hay. The two climbed down the mound to the floor.

"Where are we?" he asked looking around the vacant room. It was completely dark. He turned on his flashlight and shined the light around. The light hit a face of a pale skinned creature. Dipper cried out as he jumped back.

"It's not real," Mabel said. There all decorations." Dipper looked at each plastic decoration of various monsters, vampires and other such creatures.

"Somehow we got into another room. This must be all the storage area.

"Well, nothing to worry about here. Decorations can't hurt us."

The twins didn't notice a shadowy figure moving along the wall. Then, something else began to move. The pale skinned demon that Dipper had the light on moved forwards. Neither twin noticed. It reached a deformed hand and placed it on Dipper's shoulder. He brushed it away.

"knock it off Mabel," he said. She turned to see the creature standing above him.

"Dip-" she barely got out before a decaying hand went over her mouth. A low moan came out by Dipper's ear. He turned to see a pale face leering at him. He cried out and pushed the creature away. Mabel broke free from the hand that grasped a hold of her. The two looked up at the demon and zombie coming towards them. They turned to see all the other monstrous decorations moving towards them now.

"Yeah, we definitely found the anomalies," Dipper said. Mabel grabbed a rake and Dipper took a shovel. They swung at anything near them. Moving their feet as fast as they could, the two ran to the other side of the room.

"Where's the door out of this place!" Dipper cried. The turned, nearly escaping a vampire.

"There isn't a door anywhere!" Mabel yelled. A witch and werewolf stood in their path, but the twins were already swinging their weapons, pushing the plastic figures out of the way.

Finally, they were back where they started. They were surrounded by every decorative figure somehow come to life.

"I didn't think there were this many. I swear I only counted like ten figures. It look like there's more like fifty now." Dipper looked around for any exit. There was none. The twins held their weapons, ready to strike as the figures approached them.

Suddenly, something burst through the wall. The two shot their eyes over to Ford holding an axe. One by one, he chopped each horror down. Stan was behind him with a shotgun, shooting each abomination in the face. Suddenly, a monster pushed Ford to the ground. The axe fell from his grip. Stan was about to take out the creature when an energy blast came from his gun, disintegrated the plastic that made the fiend.

Many shadow moved out of the decorations and merged into one formless shadow. It moved up the wall and out the hole into the next room. All the decorations fell to the ground becoming lifeless again. The kids ran to their great uncles.

"What the hell was all that?" Stan cried.

"There was this shadow. I saw it move through the hole," Dipper said.

Ford slowly moved into the next room, holding out his gun. The shadow caught his eye as it went outside. He turned to the rest of his family as they walked through the hole.

"Well, I've got some good news followed by very disturbing news."

"Okay," Stan said slowly. "What's the good news?"

"The good news is that we've found the wraith. Unfortunately, it can manipulate any object and multiple objects at a time."

"So, how do we stop it?" Dipper asked.

Suddenly, the ringing of a chainsaw came from outside. The family looked over as Daryl stood in the barn entrance. His eyes were black holes staring at them. He raised the chainsaw as he charged at them.


End file.
